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After Afghanistan’s convincing eight-run win over Bangladesh in T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 on Tuesday, Gulbadin Naib’s act of injury was the top trending topic. The Afghanistan cricketer got himself in hot soup after he fell on the ground, clutching his hamstring when he was fielding at slip cordon in the 12th over of the inning.
Although this win for Afghanistan knocked out Australia of the T20 World Cup 2024, their skipper Mitchell Marsh dropped first reaction on Naib faking injury with DLS coming into picture in the rain interrupted match. Although, several pundits deemed this act against the spirit of the game, Marsh described as one of the funniest moments.
In an interview with Cricket Australia, Marsh said, “I was almost in tears laughing and at the end of the day it had no bearing on the game. So we can laugh about it now - but gee it was funny. It was outstanding.”
Earlier, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan also defended Gulbadin Naib’s injury act. Speaking at the post-match press conference after their win, Rashid Khan said, “Well, I think he had some cramp. I don’t know what happened to him. I don’t know what’s going on, on social media. But that doesn’t matter. It’s an on-field injury.”
“We didn’t lose any over, rain came, and we just went off the field. It’s not something that made any massive difference in the game. We came back on the field in 5 minutes, and there was no massive difference. For me, it was just an injury and needed some time,” he further added.
